SLEEPING BEAUTY

National Art Museum of Ukraine
August 22 - September 9, 2012

Taras Polataiko's "Sleeping Beauty" Goes GLOBAL!

Barbara Edwards Contemporary is pleased to announce Canadian/Ukrainian artist Taras Polataiko's recent performance "Sleeping Beauty" at the National Art Museum of Ukraine, continuing until September 9th. Reuters carried the story and the project has now gone viral, receiving daily attention in major international newscasts.

The idea is based on an ancient story, written by Charles Perrault in 1697. The story concerns a beauty who is cursed to sleep for 100 years to be awakened only by the kiss of her true love.

The anonymous beauty sleeps at the central gallery of the National Art Museum of Ukraine for 2 hours a day, every day. To enter the gallery, the viewers must sign the following contract: "If I kiss the Beauty and she opens her eyes, I agree to marry her." In return, the Beauty's contract states: "If I open my eyes while being kissed, I agree to marry the kisser."

The tension of the performance is in its seductiveness and fear of the ultimate moment. The viewer will have to think twice before kissing the Beauty. The Beauty will have to decide if the ultimate moment has come or not. The show will end the moment the Beauty opens her eyes.

Taras Polataiko was born in Ukraine. He has been living and working in Canada since 1989. Polataiko represented Ukraine at Sao Paulo Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2002. Among other international forums where the artist represented Ukraine and Canada are Tel Aviv Biennale of Video and Korean Biennale of Contemporary Art.

Recently Taras Polataiko had exhibitions at: Bazel Art Fair (Switzerland), Priska Juschka Fine Art (New York), Musee d'Art Contemporain de Montreal, Antoni Tapies Foundation (Barcelona), The Power Plant (Toronto), Center for Contemporary Art Castle Ujazdowski (Warsaw), Soros Center for Contemporary Art (Kyiv), Art Arsenal (Kyiv), International Festival of Film and Video Images (Toronto), Artspace (Sydney) Barbara Edwards Contemporary (Toronto) and Artspeak (Vancouver).

This year the artist will be represented at the Alberta Biennial in Edmonton (Canada).

The project " Sleeping Beauty" is realized with support of Alberta Foundation for the Arts and University of Lethbridge (Canada).

Taras Polataiko is represented by Barbara Edwards Contemporary.